#the entire season i was like lorenzo is too like... well-intended

[batsplat]

breaking a blog policy of non-engagement with active discourse unless explicitly asked about it,, below the cut,, I intend this to be a one-off thing, look away

seen some snarking about this article on the race dot com about where marc fits into the current title fight, and specifically this paragraph:

because ofc it's some kind of grievous sin to equate the current two title contenders with the two title contenders in 2015, one of whomst was well past his prime and the other who in many ways had a deeply untidy season. the argument might be that the current spec ducati has a bike advantage over marc, which. you'll never guess how the 2015 yamaha measured up against the 2015 honda. and yeah, it sure is embarrassing how the current title contenders chuck away bucket loads of points through sheer stupidity. after all, when racing in the wet in misano, it's unforgivable to pit at the wrong time and emerge with only one point - why not simply crash and emerge from that weekend with zero points instead? imagine finishing second behind marc in those conditions, when you could instead swap bikes far too late and finish a lowly fifth

it's worth putting that paragraph in context of what the piece was actually saying:

all of this is categorically true. it doesn't mean marc might not still win this year's championship if both jorge and pecco make enough mistakes, but quite obviously those two are closer to the 2015 title contenders than 2017. in the former, marc could not bank on a consistent pace advantage, in the latter he could; this feels like quite a straightforward point to be making. dovi's phillip island stinker did kill his championship momentum - and given the sheer consistency of performances jorge and pecco have put in when it comes to their pace, it would be very surprising to see an equivalent from those two. don't even get me started on whatever the fuck maverick vinales was doing that year after like,, the first five races, which lack of a dominant bike is quite frankly not enough to excuse. the rest of the article assesses marc's chances entirely fairly, essentially expanding on the argument that you just wouldn't expect that kind of consistent performance edge that he would need to overturn the points deficit. (I personally think marc is a little more likely to be a title threat than the author of the article does, though I also don't fundamentally disagree with anything specific being said; mainly I just feel vibes-wise that sprint races have made title fights insanely volatile.) he could still win - but in terms of how he compares to the opposition, there is no argument whatsoever to be made that this is not closer to 2015 than 2017. even if you believe this is only due to bike difference, in which case I think you are possibly giving 2017 dovi and vinales a little too much credit, the points raised in the article still stand up to scrutiny

it is perhaps inevitable that people will deify the greats of the past - even more so if they dislike the top riders of the present and feel that they are undeserving of their current success. it does, however, seem to come along with a skewed understanding of the actual greats in question, of where they were strong and where they faltered. valentino and lorenzo had two title fights, both of which were error-strewn affairs and hardly their best seasons. sprints have helped further distort perceptions of how error-prone these current riders really are, because at the end of the day neither martin nor pecco are on course for a radically different error rate than the title contenders in 2009. lorenzo lost his head in jerez when he was the pre-race favourite and ended up crashing trying to overcompensate for his surprisingly poor pace, valentino had an absolute howler at le mans that makes misano this year from martin look like a paragon of good decision-making and composure under pressure, jorge practically handed the championship to valentino with back-to-back dnf's at donington and brno, valentino incidentally also crashed at donington and got extremely lucky to have a bike that was still rideable to fifth, then proceeded to just chuck it for absolutely no reason at indy with a mistake that was so obviously stupid and needless he showed up to misano with a donkey helmet. valentino followed up misano with a poor fourth in estoril because he got lost with the set-up that weekend - and buddy, if you think the gp24 bike advantage is bad, let me tell you a story about how yamaha/ducati/honda were doing back in the day compared to the field. fourth might as well have been last. (I don't love single manufacturer domination either, but let's not pretend like the gaps between bikes aren't way, way, way smaller than they were in '09.) then jorge, with momentum and opportunity on his side, gets so spooked by valentino's pace in practise he bins it on the very first lap of phillip island, essentially ending the championship fight then and there. neither of them deliver a particularly dignified performance in sepang. during this title fight, there were three instances of crashing out of the lead and one from a very close second. jorge martin and pecco bagnaia eat your hearts out

and 2015? the season that was actually being referenced in the championship? valentino was only in that championship fight due to his relentless consistency, a handful of starring performances and an ability to not completely fuck it when a few rain drops started falling. his pace was flat-out not good enough to be a title contender - if anything, on raw pace he was more competitive for a big chunk of 2016 than he had been the year before. he was qualifying abysmally in an era where the gaps between bikes were considerably larger, reflecting a far poorer performance than equivalent grid positions would nowadays, and certainly would have nothing to counter the consistency in qualifying the two title contenders this year have demonstrated. jorge had to work hard to come as close to losing that championship as he did, going through a bizarre and borderline embarrassing set of helmet visor issues early on in the season that he should never have allowed to happen. he was peak metronome that year, able to dominate and win from the front but otherwise rife with limitations, repeatedly performing poorly when he was put ever so slightly off-balance. in many ways, he got very lucky to not be penalised more for his horrendous silverstone performance. he was also helped by the gap between the factory yamahas and hondas to the field being so large, because otherwise some of his inconsistency would have cost him a hell of a lot more. both of their seasons had laughably obvious flaws that just about managed to offset each other's enough to make a title decider possible - but if you ever so slightly change the formula, if the qualifying format had still been different or the bike disparities larger or smaller or any of that, it would have probably tipped it quite strongly one way or the other. a battle of the titans it was not

none of this is to say that valentino or jorge are shit riders, or that marc is a fraud for letting himself be so thoroughly beaten by them in 2015 on what was ultimately still a competitive bike. at a certain point, however, you are comparing the current athletes with versions of the past greats who quite frankly did not exist 90% of the time. if you are sufficiently motivated, you can come up with pretty decent slander for anyone. it is also presenting an idealised version of the sport in the past that, again, did not exist. while the gp24's advantage over the field is substantial, if we are talking in terms of raw lap times, it is substantially less so than the gap the top few factory teams had in the past. the aliens did not dominate from 2007 to 2015 to the extent that they did because they were just so brilliant - they were performing at a high level, yes, but also nobody else really stood a chance. as hard as it may be to accept, when you have riders who so consistently have a pace advantage as pecco and martin do, including over the fellow riders on the same machinery, it is possible they may simply be doing an actual good job. and the more pecco adds to his resume, the more difficult it will become to not consider him in the same tier of rider as at least some of the aliens. yes, I am talking about lorenzo here - a man who incidentally did not convincingly pass the 'only good with one manufacturer' test that's already being dangled in front of pecco. if we really want to go into the weeds, it's worth pointing out that pecco's luck has also not been particularly fantastic this year, from mechanical gremlins at the le mans sprint to being wiped out by binder at the jerez sprint to the qualifying position at aragon working against him and losing out quite severely in what are at worst 60:40 racing incidents twice this season - sometimes, you do get punished a lot for relatively minor missteps. so yeah, if you want to compare the current trio of title contenders with anyone, then 2015 feels as good a place as any. sometimes the greats of the past did suck, idk what to tell you. they would be a hell of a lot more boring if they hadn't

[mermaidsirennikita]

lmao this silly show did my favorite thing it’s ever done in its finale

[soldieronbarnes]

Hi, I... don't know if you or someone else has already write about it, but... It would be okay to have a prompt about Magnus and temporarily warlock!Alec? If they have stayed a bit longer in Edon with the alliance rune, and then Alec showing Magnus that he also has magic now (and maybe Magnus a bit uncomfortable because it was Lorenzo's magic, not his). Is it possible? (I love everything you write)

You know, this one is the reason I didn’t manage to fill many prompts during my holiday, because I thought “hey, I’ll write, like, a couple hundred words for each prompt and that will be it”. And then I spent two evening trying to get this one right aaaaand it got quite a bit longer than expected. I hope you like it.

___

“Darling, could you hand me the - “

Magnus doesn’t even get to finish the sentence before the salt shaker shoots towards him and comes to a screeching halt a few centimetres away from his face where it hovers in the air, wobbling back and forth like an overexcited dog wagging its tail so hard it makes its entire body move. Magnus blinks at it, perplexed, before his expression morphs into something carefully neutral that still manages to look somewhat pinched.

“Sorry,” Alec says sheepishly. 

“No need to apologise.” Magnus’ tone is deceptively breezy, which is how Alec knows just how bothered his husband truly is. “I don’t think I’ve ever been passed the salt this quickly, unless, of course, I summoned it myself.”

Yikes. Alec flinches a little. “You know I can’t control it.” It comes out more defensive than he intended, and much more defeated as well.

Since their return from Edom, his - Lorenzo’s - magic has popped up during unexpected moments, without rhyme or reason. No one can really explain why it keeps happening; Magnus suspects it’s a certain overreaching magical residue that their stint with the alliance rune left behind, and by all reason, it should have been used up by now. None of the others seem to have had problems with their partners’ powers manifesting after they left the collapsing dimension of hell. Alec wishes that Clary’s connection to Simon could lead her back to the Shadow World, or that Jace still had moments in which he couldn’t lie – that, at least, would simply make for funny moments instead of occasionally embarrassing or even dangerous ones. 

The problem, Alec thinks dourly, is less the spontaneous bouts of magic he can now perform but rather his lack of control. There’s a certain manic energy to it when it bubbles up under his skin, announcing itself in a hot rush rising to the surface, but always far too late for him to try and center himself and keep his emotions in check, pushing it down.

The first time it happened is actually quite funny, in retrospect. They’d left for their honeymoon, portalled from the Institute to the loft to grab their bags, and when Magnus had bent over to pick up the suitcases, all Alec could do was stare at the delicious swell of his ass in his expertly tailored trousers and think: God, I can’t wait to get him naked. A second later, Magnus had been, and Alec had honestly thought Magnus was a mind-reader - or maybe just as desperately horny as Alec was after being subjected to the glorious sight of his husband in a tux for hours without being able to do anything about it - and told Magnus as much, until he saw the panicked look in his eyes when he said “I didn’t do this.”

That thoroughly ruined the mood for a while, until Magnus had checked him over three times and established that it wasn’t hurting Alec and also very likely not permanent. 

Two weeks later, and the magic still hasn’t subsided much. It’s not a constant presence, so Alec can’t claim to be a warlock, or even warlock-adjacent, really, but at this point, the only good thing about it is knowing how fucking eager it is to please Magnus, like it’s a manifestation of Alec’s soul, his innermost wishes. So far, he’s accidentally dyed some of Magnus’ shirts when he complained about the colour being just a little bit off to match his waistcoats, nearly slammed a book Magnus had considered reading into his face, dumped a rather sizeable number of drinks in front of Magnus (or on him - it’s not like he can aim) and made an entire orchard worth of almond trees bloom when Magnus lamented that he hadn’t been able to bring Alec for their season. On one particularly memorable occasion, he had made the bed float two feet above the ground as Magnus fucked all conscious thought out of him. Thankfully, Magnus had ignored it while it was happening, and only teased him about it a little afterwards. It also marks the only time Magnus had reacted with something other than a startled expression that soon turned a little sour, and probably only because he had been particularly smug about the demonstration of his sexual prowess. 

Alec hates the strange tension that arises whenever the magic decides to show its face. They’re supposed to be in the honeymoon phase of their marriage, goddamnit, not dealing with – whatever this is. 

“I know, darling. It’s fine,” Magnus assures him, plucking the salt shaker out of the air and seasoning his eggs. He studiously avoids Alec gaze as he’s doing it.

“Okay, what?” Alec asks, more brusquely than Magnus deserves. 

Magnus blinks at him. “Pardon?”

“Look, I get that this - “ he wiggles his fingers around like Magnus usually does when he’s performing magic and ignores the slightly alarmed look on his husband’s face, “- is super annoying, because I can’t seem to get a grip on it, but you have to stop looking at me like that when it happens.”

“Like what?”

“Like…” Alec bites his lips, searching for the right word. “Disapproving.”

“I don’t look at you like that,” Magnus protests.

“Yes, you do, Magnus. So what is really bothering you? What’s so bad about me having magic?”

Magnus hesitates.

“You promised not to lie to me,” Alec reminds him, and it’s pettier than it should be, to throw their weddings vows back in Magnus’ face like that. They aren’t even fighting, really, and God, Alec is an asshole. 

Magnus just sighs. “You’re right,” he concedes, before Alec can start to apologise. “It’s just…it’s kind of stupid.”

He looks kind of shifty. Alec has seen that expression on his face only once before, when they were sitting in Alec’s office after Magnus had moved into the Institute.

Oh. Oh. 

The penny drops.

“Are you jealous?” Alec asks, somewhat flabbergasted, because it makes even less sense this time around than when Magnus thought Underhill was any sort of competition. 

Magnus makes a wounded noise. “I wouldn’t quite call it that this time.”

“This time?” Alec repeats a teasing smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “So we’re finally admitting that it was jealousy last time?”

Magnus throws him a half-hearted glare but doesn’t otherwise react. So it’s serious, then. Alec reaches out, tangled their fingers together and squeezes gently. “Explain it to me,” he says. “Please.”

“It doesn’t bother me that you have magic,” Magnus says after a long moment. “But it bothers me that the magic you are wielding is Lorenzo’s magic.”

“Why?” Alec asks. For the most part, Lorenzo and Magnus seem to have buried their hatched and jumped straight into an odd friendship that will certainly consist of still constantly trying to annoy and one-up each other, just, well, fondly instead of angrily. 

“I just -” Magnus stops, sighs. “I know it’s – childish, and sort of selfish, but I had thought, with how close we are, that if you ever got a taste of magic, if you ever got to wield some yourself…I wanted it to be mine.”

Alec stills. “Oh.”

 “I never believed it would be possible, of course, and when it turned out that it was, I wanted so badly to share this part of me with you. Because I want you to see, to –”

“Understand,” Alec finishes. “I get it.”

He does. All his desperate attempts aside, he never truly could understand what it means for Magnus to lose his powers. He probably would never have understood Magnus completely, but to wield his powers, to get to experience the very essence of him so intimately – he knows he would have cherished it immeasurably, and mourned its loss once it was gone. 

Magnus smiles, a little brittle. “And now it will never happen.”

“You don’t know that,” Alec argues. “We still have the alliance rune, and we might still need it one day. I mean, I hope not, but…”

“Clary lost her runes over this,” Magnus reminds him quietly. “I don’t think I should like to risk it.”

He’s right, of course. The angels had made it very clear that they hadn’t approved of the new runes Clary had created, and her last, most powerful ones especially. Her punishment was a clear warning not to meddle with the status quo again or suffer the consequences. 

Alec grips Magnus’ hand a little tighter. The loss of possibility stings, now that he has been made aware of it. “I’m sorry,” he says. “For what it’s worth, I really wanted it to be you.”

“There’s no use crying over spilt milk,” Magnus says, shrugging. “And I do mean it, you don’t have anything to apologise for. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”

“Yeah, maybe. But it hurt you every time you had to see it, and I didn’t realise.” He hesitates. “Could you…take it away?”

“Why would you want that?” Magnus asks, surprised. “It’ll go away on its own.”

“It may go away on its own,” Alec corrects. “We don’t know for sure. And I could handle it, but if I end up hurting you - even accidentally - all the time, then I don’t want to.”

Magnus sits back, looking a little overwhelmed, like it still astonishes him, the length to which Alec will go to try and make him happy. “I - I could try. If you’re sure.”

“I’m sure,” Alec says firmly. 

“I - alright.” Magnus grabs both of his hands gently, turns them around. “Close your eyes, darling, and try to concentrate on finding the source of the magic in you. Push it to the surface, if you can, it should make this much quicker and easier.”

Alec tries. He’s never been good at meditating or quieting his mind, but as he probes around, thinking where are you, please, please, he suddenly feels a spark of it, perking up at his call. I’m sorry, he thinks, feeling vaguely remorseful as he gathers it up and tries to nudge it outward, I have to let you go now.

It pulses once, warming him from inside out, as if to say goodbye, and then it’s gone. Magnus gasps a little, and when Alec opens his eyes, he sees the tendrils float up towards the ceiling and dissolve into sparkling flower petals that sink to the floor slowly before disappearing entirely, much like the ones Magnus threw into the air at their wedding.

“That was very pretty,” Magnus says. “If a tad overdramatic.”

“Made you smile,” Alec shrugs, and pulls him in for a kiss.